Prelude to Chains of Darkness
by Tric BlackPawn
Summary: This is a tale of three friends and their tale of loss of their friend.When these traveler's wake in the world of Naruto they find that one of them has vanished and they search for their missing friend only to find that he is no longer himself.
1. Chapter 1

"Where do you think we're heading? I mean we've been walking down this tunnel for days!" A young lady complained to her two companions.

She looked to be about 14 years old and wore a tight sleeveless tan leather tunic with a white t-shirt underneath. On her feet she wore a pair of leather moccasins. She had long brown hair that she wore tied back in a pigtail. She had a glowing face and her eye's where full of life. She carried on her back a bulky and large, a little smaller than she, yet unusually light pack. She carried a deep dark wooden staff which at its topped curved in a hook from which hung a light transparent tear drop blue stone that seemed to be half filled with liquid sapphire that made little waves on its surface with every move of the staff. At her waist she also carried a simple little pouch tied at its top with a leather thong.

Her companions walked a little ahead of her, their path little by a small orb of glowing light that danced above and around their heads as if it had a life of its own. As they walked the dancing light cast dancing shadows across the walls and floor of the tunnel that was a little taller than 7 feet and just as wide.

"Relax Saria! The directions on this map say that if we continue down this passage long enough we should reach a 'World of Riches.' After all this may be a test of our patience and persistence in order to be deemed worthy of the stuff we are about to receive." One of the two figures turned his head, looking away from the map he was looking at in order to reply to his friend flashing a smile that would have cheered depression himself.

He looked about 15 with a cheerful face full of life. That included all of life's shades and shadows. He wore a pair of baggy black pants that had an uncountable number of black pockets stitched to it along with a tight white t-shirt that showed a moderately muscled chest and stomach. Covering his arms where numerous deep scars that seemed to tell of his life before his friends. Across his back he wore a massive scythe that consisted of a long black handle that was easily as tall as its owner and was made of iron. At its top a single edged blade extended at a right angle to the handle and had its bladed edge facing inward. The oddity of the scythe was that opposite the blade at the top of the handle a chain was attached that currently wound down around the shaft of the handle, so as to not swing around, and ended at a solid metal ball about the size of a cannon ball that was currently attached to the bottom of the handle. The odd weapon was obviously heavy but the owner seemed unaffected by its weight, in fact he carried an additional smaller scythe at his hip that consisted of a small curving blade attached to an about 2 foot long handle wrapped in cloth which at the bottom of the handle was a smaller ball much like the one at the end of the larger scythe. On the other side of the figure's hip was a small pouch much like the girls except this pouch was black and glittered in the light. He looked like any other 15 year old, minus the scars, where it not for the cat like ears the seemed to sprout from his spiky jet black hair, and the cat tail that likewise seemed to sprout from the base of his spine, as well as his sharp cat like teeth. The ears where about the size of his hands and where covered in thick glistening black fur and ended in tufts. They twitched occasionally catching sounds and mirroring his inner thoughts and emotions. His long tail was covered in fur similar to that which covered his ears and hung down behind him curling up at the end so not to drag along the ground and like his ears his tail twitched mirroring his inner thought and reflecting his emotions.

"Hey I think there's a light up ahead!" The other companions looked, their eyes widened in amazement, as he pointed towards a glimmer in the darkness deep in the tunnel ahead.

All of the companions stopped and starred, almost unable to believe they where almost to their goal and then with a start began to run towards the glimmer of light whopping and cheering while the stale wind of the tunnel roaring in their ears at the speed of their dash. All the while thoughts of gold and jewels and glory danced in their heads.

The final and last figure looked to be about the same age as his cat like friend, and while he acted his apparent age, his deep eyes and sharply pointed ears betrayed his already long life yet not unnaturally long life of a Dark elf. He had medium length black hair with white horizontal streaks through it that hung to the sides of his serious face that revealed in his lighter and more humorous side. He wore a black chain mail tunic that hung to mid thigh along with smooth black shoulder guards. All where made of obsidian and looked to be moderately heavy but through ancient arts the armor weighed no more that the black t-shirt and pants that he wore beneath the armor. On his back hung a deep black hooded cloak that when he needed it could wrap around his figure and with the hood up could conceal his entire figure. Currently he wore the cloak like a cape and as he ran his flapped and whipped in the air behind him and glittered in the light of the glowing orb. The only weapons he appeared to carry where four sheathed scimitars, two on his back outside of the cloak and two at his sides beneath his cloak. The only unusual feature was his darkly pale skin that seemed to be pale but had a dark tint to it.

They stopped suddenly as the tunnel ceiling and walls expanded out into a large curving cave. Before them their path was blocked by a massive black double door that stretched high to the ceiling and wide from wall to wall. It glimmered and blinked at the companions as the floating ball of light danced across the studded surface of the door revealing that the light they believed to be at the end of the tunnel was only the lights reflection off the door.

"Well, what do we do now Tric?" Saria turned to look at her friend whose face, previously glowing with a smile at her, now frowned in concentration as he looked at the door, his tail and ears twitching.

He slowly walked towards the massive door and tapped it. He smiled as if he had heard a joke that only he understood, his ears lifted up, and then his smile grew even bigger as he turned around and tilted his head as he replied. "Now we walk through!" And with that being said he turned back to the massive door and placing his hands on either side of the center of it and pushed.

As the massive doors swung out they where blinded by a brilliant light behind the door and the wind roared in their ears as they where sucked towards and into the opening.

Suddenly the doors slammed shut with a resounding boom, the hall was dark, and there was no one there, for the friends had passed through the door.

"Ugh where are we?" Tric sat up rubbing the back of his head wincing at the bright light that assaulted his eyes through a green leafy treetop above.

He thought to himself _Hm, these trees don't look like any I've ever seen! How unusual. _Tric looked around him for his friends.

He checked all around him but could find no sign of his friends. His ears twitched as he heard a sound like that of a saw being softly dragged over wood. Tric jumped up, dust falling off of him in a cloud.

He faced the direction of the sound. "Who's there?" his hand silently dropped to his side, reaching for where his short scythe hung at his hip. His hand came up with a handful of dust. He panicking slightly as he reached to his back unfortunately with the same result, his hand coming away with a large clump of tan dust. He checked for the black pack that had hung at his other side and found that, there to, all that remained was dust. "Crap."

Tric sat down cross legged, and scratched behind his ear. He shouted to the unseen, "Well I know someone's out there. You might as well show yourself!" Tric flashed a smile tilting his head, hoping the thing wouldn't be hostile, which he now doubted it was.

The leaves rustled along with the sound like that of a sword being unsheathed as something emerged from the bushes in front of Tric.

He stared, his jaw dropping, "Well, that's new." And the darkness of the thing enveloped him.


	2. Chapter 2

Saria woke. Around her she felt the cool sheets of a bed. She opened her eyes and found she was lying in a cot in a room with a clean white ceiling and walls. Hearing a door slide open she looked over and watched as second girl walked in.

The girl had medium length light pink hair and wore an unusual black headband that had a Metal plate with a swirling leaf design etched out of it that she wore like a hair band. She wore a Red kimono that reached to her knees and was slit up both sides so as to allow free leg movement. In the center of the bottom flap was a white circle that matched the white piping along the edges of the kimono. Saria could see that the girl also wore a pair of skin tight short shorts beneath the kimono and had a small pack strapped to her right leg with white cloth. She had deep green eyes that showed a natural intelligence set in a schoolgirl face. When the girl saw that Saria was awake a smile of relief lit up her face.

"Oh good you're finally awake, we were just starting to worry about you."

"Ugh, where am I?" Saria asked the girl, rubbing her head as a dull throbbing pain began to form from the slight lump on the side of her head."

The girl smiled at her, "You are in the infirmary of the Hidden leaf village, located in the land of fire. You and your friend appeared out of thin air in the middle of the training grounds during a shuriken exercise! You're pretty lucky,"

The girls expression turned serious, "if it wasn't for Kakashi sensei you would have ended up as a pincushion!"

Saria looked at the girl quizzically, "who's Kakashi sensei? And for that matter who are you?"

The girl looked at her dumbly and then bowed shortly her hands in front of her, "Sumimasen! I'm Sakura Haruno, but my friends just call me Sakura." She flashed another smile.

Saria suddenly thought of her friends and then remembered the gold she had been carrying as well as her prized possession, a sapphire staff. She checked herself realizing she no longer wore her leather tunic but instead she now wore an outfit almost perfectly matched Sakura's, that is minus the head band.

"Who changed my clothes!?!" Saria clasped the sheets to her chest and blushed.

Sakura likewise blushed looking at the floor to hide her own embarrassment, "I took the liberty, after all, your clothes really made you stick out, and in order for me to check for any other wounds I needed to check the rest of your body, after all people don't lose conscious without a good reason, well at least not naturally…So, where are you from?"

Saria held up her hand, stopping her, "wait, where is all of my stuff, I was carrying a staff and a bag and a pack filled with gold, silver, and jewels. Oh no! Justicur's Dragon was in there!!! He gave it to me to keep safe! Oh my god, he's going to kill me!!!" She began to rock back and forth, her knees clasped to her chest, as she thought of Justicur's wrath at her losing his prized possession.

"Um, I don't know of anything you might have been carrying, when you appeared all that accompanied you and your friend was a cloud of dust, for that matter an unusually large cloud of dust."

Saria stopped and stared "Friend? That's only one person! Wasn't there two other people? One who looked like a cat and the other who had pointy ears and dark skin?"

Sakura looked at her, a questioning look upon her face "There was only one other person who appeared with you, and as far as I could tell his ears looked only kind of pointy and his skin looked pretty normal to me"

Saria looked at her urgently "Where is he?"

Sakura looked at her "He's in the room adjacent to yours, why?"

Saria began to sit up but Sakura stopped her, "you need to rest! Just incase you aren't fully healed!"

Saria ignored Sakura and pushed by her running out the door to the adjacent room which was a little way down the white walled, wooden floored hall. She ran in and found Justicur buckling the last strap to the large pitch black coat that he had donned. Another boy accompanied Justicur and as Saria rushed in both of the boys looked up at her.

Saria hung her head and blushed, "Sorry Justicur, I was just checking to see if you where okay."

"Of course I'm okay. Why shouldn't I be okay?" he said this as he examined himself in the mirror that hung on the wall. "So, how do I look?"

He turned full circle showing off his new clothes. He had shortened his hair and had spiked it so that with that with the white highlights it seemed to shimmer. He had also changed his clothes and was now wearing a pair of pitch black pants with pockets up the sides and where folded up at the bottom leaving a wide white stripe. He also now wore a tight, similarly black, long sleeved shirt with which he had folded the sleeves up making a t-shirt with a white trim to it like that of the hem of his pants. Across the shirt where also two white slashes, one that started at the width of his left shoulder and swept down across his front coming to a point a little above his right hip and a second smaller one that started the width of the neck and swept to his left coming to a point above the base of his ribcage. Over the top of his outfit he wore a large billowing pitch black coat that reached to the ground and had wide sleeves and a wide collar that could be pulled up in order to hide the lower portion of his face. Across the front, down the chest where several black straps secured with simple white silver buckles. The lower portion of the coat was left open and lacked straps so as to allow free leg movement for the wearer. Around the bottom, the opening of the sleeves and collar, and the other edges of the coat was stylish white stripes.

Saria looked at him admiring his new style also noticing that Justicur's skin had become like that of a normal, tan, human, "Well, it isn't completely obvious that you like black."

Ignoring her, Justicur looked out the window set in the wall looking out above the rooftops of the village, "So, I guess all of our supplies, gold… your staff, and the other stuff is gone huh?"

Saria looked at him, "Yeah! How did you know?"

Justicur continued to look out the window, "Oh, no way except when I woke up after we came through and before you landed on my head and knocked me out again, I realized that all of our stuff had turned to dust, minus that is we still had our clothes."

Saria dropped to her knee's bowing to Justicur, Begging for forgiveness, "Please forgive me Justicur-san, I really didn't mean to lose your dragon!"

Justicur ignored her and crossed his arms, "Don't worry about it Saria, after all I think our stuff turned to dust because it didn't belong in this world."

The three individuals looked at him, shocked "Huh?"

"Our stuff didn't belong here so order remained by eliminating the anomaly. If you check our clothes you'll probably find that they've turned to dust by know, it was only a matter of time before the gate's protection fell."

The others still dumbfounded looked on as Justicur explained it; an unusual spike of Intelligence had appeared in placed of his skin tone and the pointy-ness of his originally elflike ears.

"The door we went through, in our world lead to a world of riches, literally, not a world of riches like pricy riches but more metaphorically, more like riches of life. When we arrived here, in this world, the door had an enchantment placed upon us so that when we entered this world we had time to change our clothes to fit in before all of our stuff was removed so as to not cause an imbalance in nature, lucky the imbalance only applies to inanimate objects so we're fine for as long as we are here, which might be a very long time, and quite frankly I'm fine with that."

Saria looked at him still dumbfounded, finally remembering Tric she looked directly at Justicur, "where's Tric?"

"I don't know"

"We need to find him"

"I know"

Saria looked towards the second boy. He wore a black t-shirt that fit comfortably with a wide collar along with a pair of black shorts that reached to his knees. On its back was an unusual design that looked like a red white-handled fan. He wore white elbow-pads and black knee-pads and his left arm and right leg where wrapped in white cloth and black strips that showed the cloth beneath them. On his feet he wore a pair of shoe like sandals that reached above his ankle and covered all of his foot to his toes. Above his sandals Saria could see that he wore white strips of cloth like socks. His strait black air hung strait down, over his headband, which Saria noticed looked exactly like Sakura's, his bangs where pushed up and hung down framing his serious face.

"Can you help us please." she begged him.

He stared steadily back into her eyes as if every action had earth shattering reactions. His stare slightly scared her for his irises where blood red and had unusual black markings around them.

He finally replied, "I'll ask the Hokage, he should be able to tell us if your friend has appeared in the area."

Saria forgot his serious attitude and began jumping up and down "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You have no idea how much this means to us!... Wait, who's 'The Hokage'?"

Justicur interrupted, "Now correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe 'The Hokage' is the ninja of highest rank in this village, and I'm also guessing that if this village is 'The Village hidden in the Leaves', based on the fact that there are several different elements of nature, and Ninja tend to follow a path of the elements, at least they do where we come from, there should be several other villages named for their regional elements such as a 'village of hidden in the sand', or a 'village hidden in the mist'," at this Justicur stopped for a moment noticing Sakura's mixed look of confusion, amazement, and suspicion.

"You said you just 'arrived' in our world…are you sure your not just some spy…because so far everything you've said so far has been perfectly correct." Sakura inquired giving Justicur and Saria suspicious looks.

Justicur shook his head in denial, "No, in fact I'm not sure where all that came from, I think your world has had more than an affect on our stuff, I think it's altering our very make up to suit your world. And no we aren't spies, heck, we aren't even Ninja. That is what your guys are aren't you? And anyways as for proof, which I doubt you won't try to find, don't you have tests to determine our capabilities and level of skill? And another thing… can I get some kind of weapon? I'm used to carry quite an arsenal of armaments…arsenal of armaments? Where the heck did that come from?"

He turned to look at Saria who by now had gotten over her friends newfound intelligence which was extremely contrary to his usual 'don't know don't care' attitude and was now looking at him with a look of admiration.

_Oh brother_ he thought to himself.

The second boy turned and began to walk out of the room, "You can have some weapons only after we find out who you are and what you guys can do, and that is if you really are who you say you are. Meanwhile, I'll see what I can find out about your friend."

Saria strode across the room behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder and flashed him a small smile, "I'm sorry, but what was your name?"

The boy without turning around replied, "I'm Sasuke Uchiha, don't worry about telling me your names I already know them. Now, if you would please excuse me I'm going to see what I can find out about your friend, not to mention that you two have some testing to do and possibly some studying." With this he vanished in a blur of speed and was gone.

Saria looked at Sakura, "Is he always like that?"

Sakura laughed, "Yeah pretty much," she sighed, "Isn't he just…," and she lost herself in her thoughts.

Saria looked at Justicur, They each rolled their eyes at Sakura. Saria looked back at Sakura, "what do we do now?" She inquired shocking Sakura out of her daydreams.

Sakura blushed, composing herself, "Now? You study of course," at this she gave Saria and Justicur another look of suspicion, "That is _if_ you guys really aren't ninja. Here this way"

Not waiting for an answer she walked them out of the room and down the stairs out onto the street. They took a right and then a right then another right and then… by the time they reached the Library with it's wide street infront of it, Saria and Justicur were completely lost.

Sakura stopped in front of a large building, undoubtedly the Library and explained in a superior air, "Over the next few days you'll each be given almost free range of the library to brush up on basic techniques and all other attributes of the our arts. After that you will be taken to the training field to be evaluated as to what your skill levels are so as to decide whether or not you shall be accepted, killed, or expelled from the village, Got that?"

Saria and Justicur nodded their heads in shocked acknoledgement.

They walked in Saria and Justicur stopped and stood in awe of the expansive inside,

Shelves after shelves after shelves after shelves stretched from one side of the building to the other in neat organized rows.

Saria and Justicur where surprised to find that instead of finding just books they also found scrolls! In fact the number of scrolls probably outnumbered the books a hundred to one!

"Good, now this is the Library of the hidden leaf village, welcome, if you would like food you may ask for it but pleas, the higher ups are really kind of bending the rules in your cases so don't do anything stupid, k?"

Justicur was already in a rush to discover new techniques shouted thanks as ran down the hall shelf halls to the rear of the library.

"You Idiot! Show some respect!!!" Saria shouted after him. She turned to Sakura and bowed deeply, "please forgive him, I really don't know what's gotten into him, he usually isn't this excited over books."

Sakura smiled, "don't worry about it; I have a friend who acts just like your friend, maybe not about scrolls but certainly about ramen."

Saria bowed again, "thanks, again," she then began walking down the rows of scrolls looking for something that interested her.

A few hours later Justicur found her deeply engrossed in a scroll. "Saria, don't you think it odd that we have never seen this language, or even the same writing style, and yet we can read it with ease? And what about speaking it?"

Saria looked at Justicur and then back at the scroll she was reading, her eyes widened in surprise, "Oh, my gosh! Your right! How weird is that?"

Justicur spread his arms gesturing at the scrolls around them, "It's this world affecting us again! It still amazes me how easily we've been integrated into this world, and it makes you wonder if people from this world ever come into ours. Well, just wanted to point that out to you." With that he began to walk away waving a goodbye as he made his way back into the rear of the library.

Saria smiled still amazed by her friend's newfound intelligence and returned to her book, losing herself in the intricacies of the flow of chakra and hand seals of jutsus.

"Uh, Saria?"

Saria looked up and found Sakura standing above her with a steaming bowl, a delicious scent wafted down and Saria's mouth began to water. She hadn't realized how long it had been sense she had last eaten. Her eyes locked onto the bowl.

Sakura smiled and offered Saria the bowl, "You guy's have been studying for two days staight so we thought you and your friend might be hungry so we brought you some ramen."

Saria gratefully accepted the bowl and began to tuck in, savoring the delicious noodles, slurping loudly, and in between bites she chatted with Sakura, who had sat down against the rack of scrolls across from Saria.

Saria immediately shot off a string of thoughts and questions as they passed through her head "Two Days! I didn't realize it had been that long! Thank you so much for the food I was starving! I had a question, who is this Kakashi? You mentioned that he saved Justicur's and mine's lives and I would really like to thank him."

A voice came from above Saria, it had a cool relaxed sound to it as if it understood that the only way to survive life is to go with the flow, "Who needs to thank me?"

Sakura looked up and in recognition a brilliant smile lit up her face "Kakashi-sensei!"

Saria looked up and saw the owner of the voice, figure who looked about as relaxed as his voice. He wore a green flak jacket with 3 thin rectangular pouches on each side of the chest with a zipper down the front along with a high, thick, collar, and navy blue sleeves with red swirling insignia's on the upper arms as well as on the back of the jacket. He also wore what looked like navy blue sweat pants wrapped at the end by strips of white cloth than fit into his sandal-like shoes which covered from above the ankle but left his toes uncovered. What unusual though was how he wore his headband, in addition to having the collar of the navy blue shirt he wore beneath the jacket pulled up over his nose, he also had his headband slanted so as to cover his left eye. Above the headband his medium length light gray hair spiked forward revealing an almost childish, relaxed, side.

He stood on top of the bookcase his hands on his hips leaning over looking down upon the two girls. He jumped down, falling about ten feet, and landed softly next to the girls.

Saria's eyes widened in awe, "So your Kakashi-sensei, " she sat there for a moment then jumped up and bowed deeply, "thank you soooo much Kakashi-Sensei, I was told that if it wasn't for you I'd probably be um…," at this Saria fell silent thinking of what would have happened.

Kakashi just smiled in response, "Really it's nothing, and you probably would have only gotten a few minor puncture wounds. Anyways I was just dropping by to let you and your friend know that you'll be evaluated tomorrow at say…3:00 clock?"

Saria nodded her head in acknowledgment, "Okay, Thank you again!" she bowed again. When she straitened up he was gone. She turned to Sakura "He is so cool!!!, is he really your sensei?"

Sakura nodded, proud, "Yeah, Well I guess I should leave you to your studies so I'll be going now okay? After all you should be learning these by yourselves." She said as she shook a finger at Saria in mock reprimand.

Saria bowed slightly and handed back the empty bowl, "Okay, bye, and thank you also for the noodles!"

"Your welcome! I'll come and get your friend and you when it's time for your evaluation, K? Bye." And with that she left.

Saria got up and stretched, she smiled thinking of the new friend she had made.


	3. Chapter 3

Justicur sat in a corner at the rear of the library. Around him was a mess of several unfurled scrolls that left only a small space of floor in front of him which he had cleared. He was breathing hard as he quickly scanned a few of the open scrolls beside him double checking and memorizing combinations and effects.

In a separate part of his mind he thought that maybe he shouldn't have taken the scrolls from the little room, after all it was hidden and there where warnings at the beginning and end of each of the scrolls, He stopped and then brushed the thoughts aside.

He paused for a moment, stilling his breathing and then sped through several hand signs, faster than the eye can follow and then ending with his index finger pointing into the palm of his partially opened hand there was a slight glimmer of air around the point of contact and then he pulled his finger away and looked at it.

The skin on the tip of the finger had darkened forming a strange circular mark two small to fully observe the details. He repeated the process with each of his other fingers and thumbs and then slipped on a pair of gloves he had asked Sasuke for.

He smiled and went in search of Saria, hoping she was as successful in search of a jutsu that complimented her as well as the ones that he had discovered.

Justicur found Saria asleep among several scrolls. Apparently she had drifted of to sleep after she had finished her bowl of noodles. He had to admit that if it was the same as the one Sasuke had brought him there was no surprise she had drifted off.

He smiled and picked up a few of the scrolls next to Saria, making a clearing, he pulled of his coat and bundled it up and placed it in his lap making a pillow and then leaned Saria over her head laying on the pillow in his lap.

She muttered in her sleep making Justicur smile. He leaned against the scroll rack and drifted off to sleep.

"Oh you two are so cute!"

Justicur woke up and saw Sakura standing a little ways off down the hall the shelves made. He then realized that Saria was still asleep in his lap and jumped up with a start causing Saria to cry out in alarm as her pillow suddenly moved.

Justicur snatched up his coat and put it on in one swift motion, the buckles slipped together as Justicur busied himself in picking up the scrolls that where still unfurled on the floor.

Saria still drowsy looked up, "What's going on guys?"

Justicur glanced over at Sakura whose eyes twinkled mischievously, but she said nothing that might give away what she had seen.

"Its 2:30 and your evaluation are in about half an hour so you guys should get going."

Justicur and Saria busied themselves cleaning up the area and themselves. When they where done Sakura lead them out of the library

As Justicur and Saria walked out the door Justicur stopped Sakura and let Saria walk out of earshot.

"We aren't a couple. I just need to take care of her because she's like a sister to me and I mean we've been traveling so long together, me Tric and Saria, That we could be asked if we where related and say yes in an instant, so…that's why I did what I did. Got it?"

Sakura looked at him and hung her head in apology and with what appeared to be disappointment, "yeah I got it."

Saria called back, "Hey! Where do we go from here? I want to see what I can do with what I've learned!"

Justicur and Sakura smiled at each other at Saria's impatience. Justicur shouted up to her, "Alright we're coming now." At this he and Sakura jogged to catch up to Saria.


	4. Chapter 4

Sakura led them outside the city gates, which Saria could see had massive characters where written on each of the two doors of the main gate. They then turned and continued along the side of the large wall that encompassed the city.

When they reached the training fields there was a small panel of 3 judges. There was Kakashi-sensei, a old man in a red and white set of robes and a red and white wide brimmed peaked hat with the character of fire written on the front of it, and lastly was another younger man who wore an outfit similar to Kakashi's except his shirt didn't cover his face and his headband fit perfectly strait upon his forehead below dark hair pulled back in a ponytail and across his nose was a wide scar that stretched almost from cheekbone to cheekbone.

The old man had a look of simple content seriousness, while the other judge had the kindly face of a sensei. Sakura stopped at the edge of the fence that encircled the training area in the clearing just outside of the city. Outside of the fence numerous posts where sitting on their ends.

Saria stared at them, thinking for a moment that she had seen one of them move but she dismissed the thought. Sakura gestured that they where to continue on.

They walked and stood in line with the table and waited. The old man stood up and addressed them.

"You two have caused a slight commotion with your arrival here as well as much suspicion. We have assembled here today in order to discover what skills you may know and evaluate your capabilities as to discover the truths you claim to have told us as to who you are and where you are from. Saria Cloudwalker, which is your full name, is it not?"

At this Saria gasped, "Yes! But how did you know? I haven't told anyone since we got here."

The old man laughed at this, "We asked your friend. To continue Saria you will be the first to be evaluated. To your left and behind you is a clone, punch him in the chest as hard as you can. This shall reveal to us whether or not you have had any Taijutsu training."

Saria turned around and found a perfect clone of the old man. She pulled her arm back and punched him full in the chest as hard as she could.

"Good, good. Now to your right is a wooden post. Perform one or some of your choice jutsus.

Saria turned and found a stout post as tall as she was and was about two foot thick. Saria reached into the pouch she had picked up on the way to the training ground and pulled out a small glass vial of water and pulled the stopper out of it.

She poured the water over her hands and immediately followed up with a blur of hand signs.

As Justicur watched her, he noticed not one drop of the water fell from her hands and seemed to collect even more so as her hand signs got faster and faster. Eventually a globe of water surrounded her hands.

Suddenly in a blur of speed she ran towards the wooden post, clasping her hands together behind her with her shoulder down and towards the post, her index and middle fingers pointed out inside of the orb of water.

She stopped suddenly just short of the post and brought her hands forward her fingers inside of the globe where just centimeters away from the post. But while her hands stopped the water shot from the end of her fingers freezing and forming a needle that shot pierced through the 2 foot thick post.

Saria stood there for a moment, the post cracked as the water within it continued to freeze, become colder as time passed.

After about ten seconds the post began to bulge around the ice needle. Suddenly the post exploded from the pressure from the water inside the post as the water froze and expanded.

After the dust had cleared, one very proud Saria came sauntering back to the judges table. "How was that? "She inquired, quite proud with herself.

The Hokage, unfazed, replied "while you obviously have had physical training you lack form in your Taijutsu and your hand signs where slightly sloppy. Not even an experienced ninja attempting to pass as an inexperienced novice would make hand signs as sloppy as the ones you just performed. Thus it is shown you are not accustomed to our or anyone of this world's customs. However due to your ingenuity and your obvious potential we shall accept you as one of our own if you would like us to do so," he held up a hand stopping Saria, "hold your reply until your friend has completed the tasks we set before him." Saria complied, stepped back, happy at passing but feeling slighted at the old man's comments at her jutsu.

Justicur stepped forward.

"Now as for you, we are not as sure of your innocence as we where of your friend, there is a simple clone of Iruka next to you. Perform one of the jutsu you have managed to teach yourself with the scrolls you acquired from the hidden room of the library. Yes, we know you managed to acquire those scrolls, we where tempted to eliminate you immediately, however I wished to see what you would do with those scrolls. Now, show us!"

Justicur immediately got over his shame of being caught and pulled of one of his gloves and showing his slightly darkened fingertips,

"This is what I have learned, and please, forgive me for searching into the further reaches of your library I have learned that the stronger power's are hidden away so as to protect the weak from themselves and so that only the strong may learn the secrets," He bowed low, "forgive me."

The judges nodded in acknowledgment, "and now for what I have learned, he curled his fingers leaving only his index finger extended.

With it he reached out and taped the clone on the chest; there was a slight flash as patterns etched themselves in glowing light upon the chest of the clone. And then the light was gone and the clone stood there looking no different.

"Now if you would please perform a simple jutsu, for example: the fireball jutsu." The clone complied, its hands a blur as it sped through the hand signs and then finally it placed its thumb and forefingers against its mouth,

Sakura fearing for her new friend's safety shouted out to him trying to warn him.

"Move Justicur! Get out of the way!"

Justicur stood still, unmoved, paying no heed to Sakura's warning.

The clone blew between its fingers.

Sakura winced shutting her eyes, not wishing to see her friend get hurt. She waited for the roar of the flames from the clone's jutsu but nothing happened. there was only a slight whistling sound as the wind passed through the clone's lips.

Justicur, smirking, glanced at the judges and saw their expressions of initial surprise, then amusement and understanding.

He pulled off the glove of his remaining hand. Then swiftly, with his hand curled like a claw, he slammed it into the stomach of the clone.

Instantly the clone flew back a little ways from the blow and vanished in a puff of smoke. "What I just performed is, "the Hokage cut him off.

"An extremely weak chakra seal. Now, whether or not that was purposeful or accidental shall determine our decision. Was it purposeful?"

Justicur nodded his head, "Yes I purposely flawed the final seal of each of the individual chakra seals in order to weaken them."

The three judges each looked at each other and then the old man stood up again, "Then your jutsu is nothing short of brilliant, this makes us worry, but you are obviously new to these techniques, much like your companion. Thus if you where from a different village, you would certainly be of no serious danger to us. Do not take that as an offence nor as a challenge," at this he smiled at his little joke.

"None taken and I shall not take it as a challenge."

Justicur, we would also appreciate your last name, unless of course you have no last name?"

"Where I am from I have no last name, for I have no memory of my past and know not of my origins. But I was called in title Justicur of the shadows"

"Then from now on you shall be known as Justicur Sukage," he turned to the other judges, "Agreed?"

"Agreed."

With a flourish the old man raised his arms, "there for, the people hidden leaf village and I the Hokage welcome you Saria Cloudwalker and you Justicur, to our village as one of our own! We shall train you as one of our own and you are welcome to select a residence within the village which to take up as your own! However with this you will be expected to swear an oath of loyalty to the hidden leaf village, and to you.

At this there where numerous small explosions and the entire area outside the fence was covered by dense cloud of dust.

Above the explosions Saria and Justicur could hear a loud roar of cheering. Once the dust had settled all of the wooden posts outside of the testing area were replaced by shinobi.

Apparently it had been spread around that the two companions where spies and where to be eliminated after the evaluation and as a result the ninja of the village had gathered to witness the execution of the spies! But once they saw the skills of the two companions and heard that the two companions where not spies and where to be inducted into the ranks, the assembled ninja cheered the two friend's success.

Justicur found Sakura and Sasuke off to his left with a second Genin with spiky yellow hair, headband, and an orange jumpsuit with a thick high white collar.

Sakura was jumping around jubilant that her new friends had made it through the test and had been accepted.

Sasuke appeared indifferent but there was a hint of a smile at the corners of his mouth. The third of the trio seemed rather bored with the whole thing and looked like he could have been doing something better with his time.

Justicur was suddenly crushed by a hug from an ecstatic Saria. "Saria…gasp…we're not…gasp…done yet,"

Saria let go, "what?"

"We still need to find Tric!"

Saria instantly went into gear. She ran up to the table the Hokage was still sitting at and bowed deeply, "Excuse me but I was wondering, have you found any information as to the where our friend is?"

There was a blur of motion at the Hokage's elbow and there stood another ninja. He handed the Hokage a scroll and left in a blur of speed.

"Ah! It seems your cat eared friend is in the vicinity of the village less than a miles walk away. I shall send one of our guides to take you there,"

The third judge at the table walked forward the Hokage introduced them, "This is Iruka, He currently is a teacher at our school, but for now he will guide you to your friend's location,"

He glanced down at the scroll and read on his eyes widened ever so slightly in surprise,

"Wait, let me see the one who brought me this,"

There was a blur and the ninja that had brought the scroll reappeared a little ways behind the Hokage.

Without turning to the ninja but instead looking at the scroll intently the Hokage inquired, "Has this been confirmed?"

The ninja nodded.

The Hokage snapped his fingers and immediately five ninja assembled in front of the Hokage,

"I fear there is something amiss with our new friends' companion, I would like you to accompany them, unseen, to provide them with protection, now go."

The ninja nodded in acknowledgment and vanished as the Hokage turned to Saria and Justicur,

"I am sorry but it appears that your friend is unwell, my sources inform me that when your friend was first seen entering the clearing of the location he is still at, he was muttering to himself and when he was approached by an individual the individual was," the Hokage glanced at the scroll and quoted it, "pierced at numerous points by black chains." He continued, "I am sorry but for your own protection we must send an envoy with you in case your friend becomes violent, there will be no argument, am I understood?"

Justicur and Saria both hung there heads, "Yes, sensei."

The Hokage looked at them, "maybe the sight of friends will placate him and we can discern the nature of his violence. Well, you should get going, we wouldn't want to keep your friend waiting now would we." The Hokage put on a slight smile in order to comfort the two friends.

Justicur looked towards the sky at the sun, "let's go," a somber tone to his voice.

In low spirits the companions, accompanied and comforted by their new friends Sakura and Sasuke and their friend, whom Justicur and Saria learned was named Naruto, began to make there way, lead by Iruka, to their friend.


	5. Chapter 5

When they arrived it was still early in the morning and the sun was midway into its arc.

They followed one of the paths leading away for the village until they reached a small house at its end.

It was a small one story, probably one room, house that most likely belonged to a single person.

From behind the house came the aroma of peaches that permeated the air of the clearing like a thick fog.

The clearing was perfectly quiet except for the soft sound of rattling steel.

Iruka walked up to the door and knocked.

The door opened and Kakashi's appeared from around the door smiling a welcome to them.

"Hey guys! You certainly took your time getting here."

Iruka shocked began yelling at him, "Kakashi what are you doing here?"

Kakashi ignored Iruka and open the door a little and walked out, closing it softly." He put a finger to his lips, "I think Mr. Ichigo would appreciate it if you where a little quieter during his nap."

Iruka lowered his voice, "what are you doing here Kakashi!?"

Kakashi walked over to the edge of the house and peaked around towards the back and replied without looking at them, "Well, I wanted to find out what had happened to Saria and Justicur's friend and you all heard what happened to, as the Hokage put it, 'the individual'?"

Everyone nodded their heads.

He continued still looking around the house, "Well, that individual was Mr. Ichigo and he explained to me that after he had been attacked by your friend, your friend ran over and, using black chains as if they where arms, bandaged Mr. Ichigo and placed him in his bed in his house. Mr. Ichigo also explained that for the past two days your friend has been taking care of the entire orchard!"

He scratched the side of his chin through his face covering, "Hm…I think that was it, oh yes Mr. Ichigo also said that your friend told Mr. Ichigo not to bother him or else it would kill him."

Iruka looked at Kakashi, "It?"

"It."

Saria looked at Kakashi, "Kakashi sensei, what is _it_?"

Kakashi walked around the corner calling back over his shoulder, "Come see for yourselves!"

The group rushed around to the back of the house, their eyes where greeted by and unusual and eerie sight.

Behind the house a little ways away was the peach orchard. About four acres square, it emanated the scent of fresh peaches. The trees seemed to grown almost naturally, not being grown in straight lines, but where still kept so as to form a roughly square orchard, in roughly straight rows.

The orchard it looked perfectly normal, the leaves shifting in the light breeze, the light catching and illuminating the fuzz of the light yellow orange flesh of the fresh rip peaches that hung on the boughs of the short trees which all seemed to grow a little higher than seven or eight feet.

That is the orchard itself looked normal, for _above_ rising from its center, like some strange spider web, were hundreds of fine, glittering, black threads.

They hung, suspended in mid air, over the orchard, waving and squirming in the wind.

Between the tree's the group could see the threads darting to and fro among the peach trees' branches testing to see if the soft plump fruit that hung on the boughs where fresh.

If the threads found a peach that was ripe a single thread would wrap around the stem and gently tighten until the stem broke and the peach was free to be taken away by the second thread that would gently wrapped itself around the peach.

The thread holding the peach would then lift the peach into the air over the orchard and transport the picked peach to the edge of the orchard and placed it in one of the numerous baskets that sat there.

Several baskets already sat brimming with freshly picked fruit of the day.

Kakashi looked off to his left, "there goes one of the scouts"

The group looked over as they saw a blur fly into the orchards.

The shifting of the threads in the air instantly ceased.

There was a pause while the threads frozen in midair.

Some of the threads suddenly descended into the forest and a figure flew out of the orchard.

He landed at the feet of the group as two other Ninja jumped out of the surrounding tree tops to assist their comrade sensing that the only danger lay in entering the orchard. The figure was relatively fine except for the numerous cuts than ran all across his body. The chain threads returned to their shifting and swaying work.

Saria was suddenly overcome with worry for her friend; she began to walk into the forest.

"Saria, no! Don't do it," Sakura shouted to her."

Justicur stopped Sakura, "If there's anyone who can talk to Tric she's the one who can."

They watched as Saria disappeared into the forest. The group watched the waving chain threads to see if they reacted to Saria as they did to the intruding ninja, but even as Saria disapeared into the orchard the threads continued their almost lifelike dancing in the wind.

They waited tensely until suddenly a great number of the thread threads dropped out of the air, the other threads unaffected, into the orchard below them.

There was a pause and then Saria's form came hurtling out of the orchard. Kakashi caught her and gently lowered her to the ground.

She was covered in small cuts and she was bleeding in numerous places but she suddenly jumped up and ran into the orchard.

Again she came hurtling out; this time even more cuts covered her body.

But she strived on continually running back into the orchard never giving up.

Her friends eventually had to have two of the ninja that observed from the trees restrain her and take her back to the village. When they left she was unconscious from blood loss from the numerous cuts than ran across her body.

Kakashi looked at Justicur, "I'm going in to take a look, wait here." He took a few steps into the orchard until he noticed that the waving of the threads above him had ceased. He step back cautiously without turning around, with his eyes still on the threads he shouted back to the group, "Justicur, the threads seem to pay less attention to Tric's friends, you try, BUT DON"T TOUCH HIM!"

Justicur nodded and slowly walked forward. Stepping silently, Justicur advanced into the orchard.

All around him the threads continued to harvest the peaches off the trees as he continued deeper into the orchard, the aroma of peaches so thick in the area that it was nearly suffocating.

Justicur looked up and followed the path of the threads toward the center of the orchard.

Up ahead he could see a figure standing almost perfectly still.

He quietly snuck up behind the figure. As he got closer he could make out the cat like features of his friend, the black furred ears with small tufts of fur at the tips, the similarly furred tail.

But Justicur could tell something was wrong for his friend stood almost perfectly still, his ears and tail, unmoving. As Justicur got even closer he could see the figure was shaking. The figure ignored him as Justicur walked slowly around his friend.

From the back his friend looked unchanged except for the two large spools, spreading out about half a foot around his arms, about three-quarters of the length of Tric's forearms that Tric wore with his arms through the eye of each spool.

Justicur also could see that these large spools had eight smaller spools arranged around it, and from these spools that the thread dispersed.

Even as Justicur maneuvered his way around to the front of his friend, making his way below the almost tent like threadwork that spread from the spools up and over the orchard, Tric stood almost motionless, shivering almost with fatigue. His arms hung at his sides, his ears still, his tail untwitching. And then Justicur saw his friend's eyes. Above an eerie wide feral smile, they where open wide as if they could see through you, and around the outside of the eyes the skin had gone jet black.

But what scared, actually scared, Justicur the most where the eyes themselves, the eye had gone completely black and the iris had gone completely white and they where bloodshot with white veins running into the black outside. Justicur stood directly in front of his friend, and yet those eyes stared off into space, completely ignoring the presence before them.

Justicur slowly made his way back out of the orchard, Haunted by the look on his friends face.

"Terrifying isn't it?"

Justicur looked over and saw Kakashi leaning against a tree, his hands in his pockets.

"It's not just how they look it's the feeling you get around them. And especially your friend."

Justicur looked at Kakashi quizzically, "Them?"

"You know what I mean, the possessed, that is unless the invading soul isn't repressed,", He glanced over at Naruto.

Justicur looked at Kakashi, astonished, "How do you know he's possessed?"

Kakashi turned his head looking at Justicur out of the corner of his eye, "What you think a normal, even a cat-like, human being can control his chakra like that?"

Justicur hung his head, "No, I guess not."

Kakashi looked up, and smiled at Justicur, "hey don't worry we'll find some way to free your friend, after all the only thing we need to do is perform a seal on him so that the daemon's soul is suppressed."

"That's it?!?"

"Yup."

Justicur quickly performed several hand signs, finishing with his fingers pointing into his palm.

Kakashi just looked off into the woods back the direction of the village, "Do you think it will last long enough to get back to the village?"

Justicur nodded his head.

Kakashi whistled and ten ninja sprung out of the trees around the house, "You guys have been watching you know the plan so lets try and get this right." The ninjas nodded their heads as one and vanished in blurs of speed. Kakashi turned his head, looking at Justicur, "Go."

Justicur nodded and began to make his way back through the orchard to his friend. It was near sunset and the light of the setting sun cast eerie shadows across the orchard coupled with the wavering of the light caused by the glinting threads, and the intoxicating scent of the orchard Justicur felt like he was in a dreamland that didn't exist.

He finally reached his friend in the orchard. Tric looked the same as when Justicur had left him, staring off into space, unmoving in almost every way but still oddly shivering. Justicur walked up behind Tric and removed one of his gloves, the tips of his fingers glowed. He slowly made his way to his friend until he was inches away and could see the swell and fall of his friends harsh breathing, he slowly reached out for his friend's shoulder and then stopped realizing that the floor of the orchard no longer shivered with the shadows of the threads.

He froze, slowing his breathing, waiting. The shadows began to move again and Justicur took his chance, his hand darting out, taping Tric on the shoulder with four of his fingers. Justicur fell back as his friend instantly turned around. Tric looked down at Justicur without moving his head and Justicur felt paralyzed as the threads began to gather around the outside edge of the small clearing in the orchard forming a swirling, shifting vortex-like wall around them. Justicur stood up, prepared to knock Tric unconscious if that's what it came to. Tric's smile grew wider, the corner's of his mouth twitching. Justicur herd a sound like that of a sword sliding out of its sheath and he watched as several threads extended in clumps from the wall-like vortex around them. As he continued to watch the threads wrapped tightly around each other and began to shift, and in but a moment where there had been black rope like extensions, there where now black glittering chains.

Suddenly the whirling of the wall stopped and, along with the chains, disintegrated into fine black sand. Tric's expression showed no sign of surprise, just that same insane grin plastered on his face. Then his eyes rolled up into his head and he collapsed to the ground. As he fell to the ground the black sand began to shift along the ground towards Tric and began reforming into thick, glittering black chains, and re-spooling onto the spools around Tric's arms.

Justicur breathed a sigh of relief, and then had an idea, he quickly reached down and picked up a handful of the black sand that was still moving towards Tric. He pulled out a glass vial and placed the sand inside. He inspected the glass vial and the sand inside and was surprised to find that it wasn't fine sand but rather it was extremely fine chain links. And as Justicur watched the links began connecting together and after a few seconds where there had been black chain sand there was now a three inch section of glittering black chain.

Justicur marveled at the intricacy with which the chain sand was controlled by his friend's chakra. But he jumped as he realized that the clearing was now occupied by the ten ninja who had been waiting for the all clear.

Two of the ninja walked over with a stretcher and placed Tric's limp body onto it and then secured him to it tightly using white strips of cloth that wrapped around every part of Tric's body so that movement was impossible. They then picked up the stretcher and where about to leave when Justicur stopped them.

He quickly did some hand signs just as he had before but ended with all of his fingers together like a cage.

He walked over to Tric's body and had them prop the stretcher upright. He then began to go through another series of hand signs, slowly bring his hand down and to the back and then with his wrists together his fingers extended like an open cage he brought his hands up and slammed his finger's into Tric's chest, some of the cloth strips ripped revealing that at every one of the ten points that Justicur had hit Tric a perfectly circular seal with unusual runes around the outside and inside of it had formed creating a circle of ten interlocking rune circles.

The ninja re-secured Tric to the stretcher and then in a whirlwind of leaves left for the village.


	6. Chapter 6

It was night by the time they had reached the village and everyone was in low spirits. They learned that Tric had been taken to one of the secure buildings and Justicur would have to wait until tomorrow to see their friend.

They went to see Saria and found she was awake but still very sore but she would be able to leave the infirmary in a mater of hours. After they left the Infirmary with Saria they headed over to the library so Justicur and Saria could study. Sakura and even Sasuke and Naruto where in low spirits feeling their new friend's sorrows. They where sitting down at one of the tables in the library when Iruka walked up smiling.

"Come on guys it's not that bad! Hey we managed to get your friend here and the Hokage himself is inspecting your friend in order to determine what seal or what combination of seals your friend will need to regain control, and hey Justicur! Saria! You've just been inducted into the village hidden in the leaves you should be ecstatic! It's a special occasion!"

At this Naruto's ear's perked up, "A special occasion?"

Iruka nodded his head, "Of course it is! And what's a special occasion without Ramen Noodles!"

Justicur and Saria looked at each other and then back at Iruka, "what are Ramen Noodles?"

Naruto looked at Justicur then back at Sakura and Sasuke, "You guys really _are_ from a different world!"

At this everyone burst out laughing. They continued to laugh as they walked out of the library until they where hushed y one of the librarians. They stifled their giggles until they got outside and then laughed all the way to the Ramen Shop.

The room was silent. Tric could here the breathing of the three guards that no doubt stood outside the door. To the room he lay in. He tried to sit up but he couldn't. He looked down and found himself secured with bands of iron to the cot he lay on. He relaxed and stared at the ceiling as he began to formulate a plan to escape. He must reach those scrolls!

He snapped his eyes shut as he heard locks clicking open. No doubt they secured the door. The door opened and judging by the space and footfall a short man walked in. Tric felt the man looking at him and then out of the darkness he heard a second individual's breathing.

He heard a soft sound as a second figure began to shift his hands in a precise pattern. Tric could smell the second individual and recognized the scent but couldn't place it with a face, then he remembered the boy in the orchard, the one who had just by tapping him on the shoulder had caused him to fall unconscious. He began to tremble with rage.

_The boy must pay!_ _But wait, why could I not sense the boy until he had tapped me in the orchard? It was as if he appeared out of thin air. And the same for the girl. And why could I not hear this boy when he walked in here until he was inches away from me? It does not make sense! It's as if I can not sense their presence even with the heightened senses of this body. No matter, I will kill the boy anyways. _

Then an almost separate train of thought entered his mind, _no, the boy must not pay, he is my friend. _

_My friend!?! But I do not know this person and where are these thoughts coming from? _Through his thoughtshe heard the boy speak.

"I think this is the most amount of time he can go without having the seals re applied I think even now he is awake, how long has it been?"

The smaller man replied, in a calm and serious voice, "Seven hours."

Tric herd the boy move suddenly and felt and unusual sensation as the boy slammed his fingers into Tric's chest.

Tric felt an unusual tingling sensation spread across his body, almost as if each part of his body where slowly falling asleep. The voices began to break up and Tric could only catch bits and pieces of scents as slowly, he drifted, to sleep.

As the second boy walked out of the room he stopped hearing something. He turned his head listening. He shook his head dismissing the thought as he continued out of the room. As he walked out he could have sworn he heard the jingling sound of chains.


	7. Chapter 7

Saria woke up as the sun's rays peaked at her over the edge of the roof she and Justicur had decided to make their home. She sat up and looked out above the trees at the rising sun. The horizon lit up in beautiful hues of pink, orange and red. She stretched and yawned noticing that a pleasant aroma was filling the air.

She found at the foot of her sleeping bag a small tray with a teapot and two small cups on it. She poured herself a cup and sipped a little, recognizing it not only as green tea, but the best green tea she had ever had! Sakura's head poked up over the edge of the roof.

She smiled, tilting her head, "Are you up yet Saria-san?"

Saria sipped at the tea a little more, "Sakura, Did you make this?"

Sakura shook her head, "No actual Justicur made it. He came down this morning and asked me if I had any tea leaves, I told him I did and he asked if he could borrow some, he also asked for some other ingredients. I gave them to him and he left. Why? Does it taste bad?"

Saria shook her head, "No, it actually tastes really good! I guess he didn't lose any of his cooking skills." Saria poured a cup and offered it to Sakura. She took it and sipped a little.

Her eyes widened in surprise, "Wow! This is really good! Where did he learn to make tea like this?"

Saria and Sakura jumped as Justicur's voice came from behind them, "Depends on what you're talking about. If you're talking about my tea I learned to make it at a monastery in the FarHigh Mountains of our world. I learned how to become a 5 star chef from only the best. And by the way you Saria you missed class this morning."

Saria turned with a start, "What!?!"

Justicur smiled, "You where excused, but you ended up getting homework, the pile's downstairs."

"Pile!?!"

"Yup"

"Oh my gosh! I need to get studying!" With that Saria jumped up and ran down the stairs that connected the roof to the main floor Justicur could hear Saria scribbling away began working on her assignments and studying the additional scrolls Justicur had brought. To help her study.

Justicur glanced over at Saria, reflecting on how fast time passed since the had arrived in this new world. It had already been over a week and they where already in their final classes before their final exams that would determine whether or not they would pass on to become Genin or be held behind, like, as they discovered, Naruto had been. But there where no doubts as to whether or not they would pass, after all they had managed to advance through the class levels within two weeks that in itself was a noteworthy achievement. They had quickly adapted to the lifestyles and where even getting training on the side from Sasuke and Sakura. The next day they smiled proudly as there names where called as one of the graduates.

Out of the corner of Justicur's eye he saw something that made his heart stop. One of the guards that where on duty to watch over Tric's still restrained form had appeared next to the Hokage. Justicur could see that the ANBU, as Justicur had learned they where called, was holding his shoulder, beneath his hand a red stain was slowly spreading down the arm.

Even from across the field Justicur could see the Hokage's eyes widen in surprise. The Hokage stood up and raised his arms, the assembly grew silent.

"I'm sorry for the interruption, but there is an emergency that requires our attention." He snapped his fingers and instantly a crowd of shinobi assembled. Justicur could see that not one of the shinobi where below the level of Jounin. Justicur noticed that the Hokage was staring at him intently as where all the assembled ninja.

The Hokage spoke in a level, calm voice that rose above and broke the dead silence of the clearing, "Did you have anything to do with this?"

Justicur shook his head, "No."

The Hokage continued to stare at him and then let out a long sigh, "I feel that you tell the truth." He then turned his attention to the assembled shinobi, "ANBU, you will head him off at the library; we must prevent him from going anywhere near those scrolls. Assemble yourselves as you see fit. As for the rest of you, I want sentries posted and guards assigned. However I want every measure taken to insure our troubled friend's life. Understood?" The clearing, now empty except for the assembled shinobi, Justicur, Saria, Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke, resounded with their reply,

"Yes." A cloud of dust was kicked up as all of the shinobi dispersed to their individual tasks.

Justicur walked up to the Hokage after the dust had settled and bowed, "Hokage Sama I wish to see Tric's holding cell so that I can find out how he managed to shake off the effects of my seals." The Hokage nodded his head.

"We shall make our way there for I would like to do so as well." He took Justicur by the shoulder as they made their way back to the group of friends.


	8. Chapter 8

They came to a small building just inside the wall that surrounded the city. As the group came closer to the building they began to see the first signs of Tric's escape. Across from the building lying on the ground was a large thick steel door that was warped and punctured as if it had been first hit in the center by a massive spiked force that after slamming into the door punctured it like fingers from a sharp hand that grasped the door so that it could be ripped, hinges and all, from it's housing in the wall of the building. The group could also see the holes that formed from Tric's escape by scaling the wall after escaping from the building.

The building itself was constructed out of the same brown dusty bricks the wall was composed of except smaller and it was only two stories high. It was perfectly square and gave off a feeling of precise order with its shape and simple small rectangular windows.

As they walked down the white washed hallway, their sandals clicking on the wooden floor, they where amazed how their seemed to be o sign of Tric's escape inside. They easily found the room Tric had been housed in finding one of the room was lacking a door but, Justicur judged by the five locks on one side and the chunks of wall that where missing, had had one before Tric's escape.

Justicur looked inside and immediately stopped refusing to let Saria into the room.

"Saria you can't go in there." His face was solemn.

"Justicur I think I can handle seeing some wreckage." She said almost playfully but toned down by the serious atmosphere around the group.

"No." He replied sternly.

"Humph." She turned her back on him and began to pout. Justicur blinked something in his eye, _Why are my eyes watering? Uh-oh_, he wiped his eye and he turned around already knowing that she had snuck by him. He heard her gasp as she took in the "wreckage."

The room had been a simple one, the only furniture being a cot up against the left wall in the corner, and the only light was through an extremely barred window that no human could fit through high in the middle of the wall.

But that was before Tric had arrived now the metal bands that had immobilized Tric lay sticking up into the air like shattered ribs and slammed into the wall above the bed was the missing door, having been ripped off it's hinges into the room with such force that it was impaled into the wall.

But what Saria gasped at where the two figures in the room. One was transfixed to the right hand wall and the other was secured to the ceiling a couple of feet above them. Sasuke could see that the figures where secured to the wall and ceiling by eight glittering Kunai knives that pierced each section of their arms and legs. Sasuke also noted how they where also secured by their own Katanas which pierced them through their chests. Below each of them unusually small pools of blood had begun to pool from the dripping from the ceiling and the trails that ran down the wall.

The two guards each looked almost perfectly alike where it not for the different masks that they each wore, one had a beak and a birds face, the other was simple having only a green square over the upper right hand side. They each wore flak body armor and had sheaths on their backs. Simply they wore the customary battle gear accustomed to the ANBU of the hidden leaf village.

The Hokage smiled slightly "Hm, I believe your friend may have some control of his actions, not much but enough."

The group of Genin looked at him, "Huh?"

The Hokage ignored their inquisitive looks and pointed over to the cot with its metal ribs protruding into the air, "Justicur, Sasuke, and Naruto use that cot to reach up and pull that katana out of his chest and the kunai out of his legs and arms and get him down."

The boys hurried to comply. "Saria and Sakura do the same for that one there," He gestured to the ANBU transfixed to the wall and the girls rushed over to pull the Kunai out and free the ANBU.

Saria slowly and gently pulled the Katana out of the ANBU's chest and through the blade she could feel his still strong heartbeat.

To her side she heard Sakura gasp.

She looked down and watched as the Kunai Sakura had just touched continued to disintegrate into a fine black powder that seemed to vanish before it reached the ground.

Saria turned around and found the boys had discovered the same and where using the surprise to their advantage, slowly lowering the ANBU to the ground next to the cot. Once they had freed the ANBU they began bandaging the wounds while the Hokage stepped outside into the hall.

They heard a slight whistle outside and when the Hokage walked in he was followed by several other shinobi. They where dressed in white robes with wide collars and sleeves and hade purple marks upon their faces.

The Hokage smiled at the efforts of the Genin, "Don't worry about them these are some of our best healers although I think that those ANBU will be able to return to action in a mater of minutes

The friends looked at each other confused until one of the medical-nin explained the condition of the ANBU, "Well we where surprised, but judging by the wounds and the blood loss these ANBU will be able to return to action only a little sore within about two hours."

The genin where astonished, "WHAT!?!"

The medical-nin turned to them, about to explain what happened but the Hokage stopped him and explained it himself, "When the demon that possessed your friend attacked these ANBU your friend intervened so that every strike was as non-lethal as possible."

Saria stuttered, disbelief showing on her face, "But how? Those ANBU where pinned to the wall, an-an-and the ceiling!"

The Hokage nodded his head, "Yes but the points they where pinned at, although those points where near vital organs and veins they where shifted so that the Kunai, as well as the Katanas, missed the vital points and rather pierced the less life threatening points surrounding those points, Hm I wonder how he knew those points."

Justicur and Saria looked at each other acknowledgment passed between them, "We know how. Back in our world Tric used to be a physician. I guess he still remembers some of his training since the accident."

The Hokage looked at them inquiringly.

Justicur explained, "The reason why Justicur looks so unusual is because back in our world a man was trying to create the ultimate breed. His first test subjects where Tric's family. He had been traveling and when he got back he found his family was gone and their house deserted. So he went searching for them. When he found the man responsible his parents had already died as a result of the experiments and his sister was just barely living. The man captured Tric and experimented on him. The tests yielding hopeful results to the man. After further results Tric as we know him know was produced. Tric was horrified at what he had become and with his newfound strength he broke free of his bonds and killed the man. He reached his sister and used some of his skills as a healer and physician to heal her. But nothing worked and she passed. She was 7 years old. He was 15. Since then he has blocked the memories and only a year ago did Saria and I discover his past when we heard him crying in his sleep during a nightmare. He doesn't know we know all of this but we don't want to remind him of it, so we haven't told him. It's because of his sister's death that he hasn't been able kill anyone or let anyone be killed unless they threaten his or the lives of his loved ones, and even then he tries not to kill them without attempting to have them change their ways."

The Hokage nodded his head, "I see. Your friend has a very strong heart. I believe this is what is causing your friend to chain the demon within him."

The genin looked confused and Justicur spoke up, "What do you mean by 'chaining the demon within him?'"

The Hokage closed his eyes, rubbing them as if to wake up from a dream, "Well, we managed to discover the nature of the entity that inhabits your friend."

The group's jaws' dropped, "WHAT!?!"

The Hokage continued, "We found a reference to your friends peculiar eyes and followed it and discovered a scroll listing the eradication of a race of demon known as the Kuraikusari. They where an extremely old race of demon that was eliminated by it's fellow demon when they became to powerful. You see the chain demon could exist in the host of another being, human or demon. With this ability they would steal the secrets of each race and clan of demon and human. Their demise is one of the few occurrences of humankind and demon kind uniting to destroy a common enemy. The result was the entire race being eliminated or so they thought, for obviously the demon inhabiting your friend is quite real." He continued, "But what perplexed us was why the demon didn't just switch to another host in order to infiltrate the village and achieve it's goal of stealing the forbidden scrolls. Now it is clear that your friend is willing the soul of the demon to remain within him. "

"So how are we going to get rid of the demon within him," Saira asked, worry for her friend evident on her face.

The hokage nodded, "Well, we have a way of surpressing the influence of a demon by placing a seal on the host's body, your friend would be completely unharmed and he would be able to have complete control over is body, The only problem is that in order to perform the seal the person to perform the seal would be required to give up their soul."

Saria's hand shot to her mouth in shock, "bu-bu-bu-but we can't ask anyone to do that!"

The group jumped as suddenly a deep rumble made the earth bellow their feet tremble. The Hokage looked out the window in the direction of the Library and watched as a cloud of dust lifted into the air by a massive disturbance.

As they began to walk out Justicur's foot caught a metal plate on the floor and sent it skitering. He walked over and picked it up, he suddenly relizized that the strange paterns upon the front of it where formed by the seals he hadperformed to keep Tric in stasis. He flipped it over and found little evidence upon the back that the seals had made it through.

He smiled at the ingenutiy and relized how tric had escaped. He through the plate at the wall and just as he suspected it would, due to the lack of chackra to hold it together, the plate shattered into a fine cloud of dust that vanished in the air.

He followed the rest of the group outside as they launched themselves towards the disturbance at the library, jumping rooftop to rooftop.


	9. Chapter 9

They finaly reached the library, the group came together and looked down into the street infront of the library.

The street was about 30 feet across and occupying almost all of tht space infront of the library was a mass of black chains that clumped into a loos ball, swirling around each other like some unatural hive. The chains wirling kicked up wind and dust and was the source of the cloud that even now lifted into the air above the village.

Justicur looked hard at the shifting mass and realized, unsuprised, that he could catch glimpses of his friend.

Although tric looked different, his eyes rimmed even thicker now with black, and seemed bloodshot with white cracks. Suddenly from the chains a column shot out and slammed into the library, creating a hole.

Justicur heard a slight noise at his side and found Saria had began glowing. The others noticed and slowly they all backed away from her. Justicur could see a her hands where a blur as they flew through a multitude of handsigns. Suddely the group felt the air grow cold and a there was a sound like that of shattering glass.

The group looked into the street and where astonished to find that the area where they had seen the whirling mass of chains was now hidden from view by huge semi transparent sheets of ice that created a perfect dome. Inside they could see that the swirling of the chains had slowed.

Justicur relized that Saria still stood beside him and now she stood looking at the glass with a look of defeat and resolution. She pointed at the mass through the ice dome and spoke, "Go." With a sound like that of a thousand shattering panes the glass dome cracked all across it's surface. As the dome exploded and ice shards flew everywhere. Luckily the shards where to small to cause any damage and instead rained on the group like light hail.

Justicur looked and reacted just in time to catch Saria as she fainted, no doubt from exaustion at using to much chakra. He lowered her to the ground. Around him he heard Naruto and the other's gasp. He looked up and found himself eye to eye with his friend a few mere inches away. He stared into those Black and white eyes hateing the thing that had taken over his friends body.

Then Tric stood up sharply, his momentum carrying him high into the air above the street in an almost gracefull backflip, his arms outstreatched, his legs straight. As he reached the peak of his ascent a shimering black shadow spread out from his wrists and came to gether forming a smooth black orb. As the orb fell to the ground it began to quickly shrink until it vanishing in a puff of smoke just as it was about to hit the ground.

The group stood, frozen, not quite sure what to do next.

Then out of thin air a voice spoke. Justicur recognized it as his friends. "I have regained controll but only for a short time, i am going as far away from here as i can before it regains controll, I miss you.

And with that Tric was gone.

1


End file.
